MVP site interview

My 5 minutes of glory 😂

Yesterday the guys of MS published my brief interview MVP site. However, it is not the full version, that I copy here.

About Lluís Franco

Born in Barcelona (Spain) with more than 20 years of experience in the software development sector, now lives in Andorra for the past 15 years with his family. Lluis holds a number of Microsoft official certifications such as MCP and MCTS and has been recognized as MVP for the past 10 years due to his active participation and moderation in the MSDN forums since 1997.

Currently works as project development manager at FIMARGE a finantial services company based in Andorra. He founded the AndorraDotNet user group in 2007, being the first and almost unique user group based in the country. Since 2010 he is also the president of the Andorra IT Professionals Virtual Association.

He owns several blogs and is also a regular host and speaker in local events in the region, such as the “Geek-A-Paloozaa” conference that took place each summer. He also contributes articles to the technological section of a local newspaper.

Lluís Franco Interview

1 What does it mean being an MVP?

It is something much more important to me now than when I was first awarded, as I wasn’t aware at that time of all the wonderful things that would happen to me and the great people I would meet over the time. Not only at a technical level, what the MVP community of course has, but also for the human quality of the majority of MVPs. I met many of my current best friends thanks to the MVP Program.

2 How was your start in the community?

It happened just by chance. As it was the case of many professionals in the IT industry I needed help to solve a problem and posted a question in the today disappeared Microsoft newsgroups, where I got the answer to my questions. I just loved this way of learning from other community members and one day I decided to give something back to them and I started to reply questions there. Sometime after I started running a webpage, a blog, another blog…. At some point I did a presentation at a local user group meeting and finally I started a new user group, hosting events… And I still really enjoy doing these things today.

3 What would you ask Steve Ballmer?

Let me see… The first thing that comes to my mind is to ask about some Microsoft business segments long-term strategy. But this is something that almost everybody would ask him, so I would rather ask about the good old times… So Steve, in your opinion, what has been the most important fact in Microsoft’s history? I am talking about the key factor or point in time that has made Microsoft what it is today.

4 What is the best software product in history?

I am in love with C#. For me this is the most beautiful, complete, and powerful programming language ever created. So therefore, the best software product for me is Visual Studio 2012, the best IDE in history (or at least the best I have ever used, that are many). Talking about operating systems, I have no doubt; Windows 8 is far the best one. At that point I have to say that I have not always worked with Microsoft products.

5 What would you change on Visual C#?

I would continuously add functional characteristics to it. In the latest versions we have seen the introduction of generic functions, delegates management, LINQ and moreover, lambda expressions have made of C# the programming language I have always dreamed about. It is really fun programming on C#! However some things are still missing such as Nested functions, for example. So as some of my friends mentioned to me, this would make functions to be considered 1st level citizens. There are also other things such as making the Framework and IDE a bit lighter. There are many different types of objects there and some collections could be eliminated.

6 Which is the last book you have read?

I am a compulsive technical book reader. But I also love fiction and science fiction books. I have last read ‘Ready Player One’, a novel with plenty of references of the 80’s : videogames, music, films, role games, comics and even toys. It has a young writing style and I could identify myself with the background described there. I also read technical books and of course, my favorite one: ‘The Silmarillion’.

7 Which music CD would you recommend?

Just one? In that case I would go for Radiohead’s ‘Ok Computer’. I really love this band’s the first albums. I like different kind of music from Bach to the heavy metal, including Jazz music too.

8 What makes you an excellent MVP?

I don’t consider myself an “excellent MVP”. For me being an MVP means a person with some technical skills but that is willing to share his knowledge and passion with the community in different ways, helping others that have helped them before. So the most important thing here is having the right attitude. So somebody that considers himself as being better than others because of the MVP Award probably wouldn’t deserve this recognition.

9 What is in your “Computer Bag”?

There is less and less software and more and more hardware in there. Many small devices, adaptors, that make life easier when I’m travelling. And of course, and old souvenir from the old MVP Program times, a Swiss knife with the MVP logo on it that contains a complete set of different tools, that I of course, have never used, but I hold it just in case.

10 What is the best thing that happened to you since you are an MVP?

Popularity, women, money… (I’m kidding). Maybe having being nominated as “C# MVP Of The Year 2011” as it is an Award that you can have once you are MVP and the winner is chosen by other MVPs within the same expertise. My first trip to Seattle was also great, but if I had to choose just one thing, this would be the people that you meet. There isn’t anything better than a “geeks & beers” meeting.

11 What is your motto?

It is something really simple: “Try to be a better person”, somebody able to be a model for my daughters when they will be older.

12 Who is your hero?

Sheldon Cooper, Yoda, Spock, Frodo, Cálico Electrónico and Fuckowsky from ‘Memories of an engineer’… But if I had to choose just one, this would be Tony Stark: Playboy, millionaire, genius, and with his own armor. However in real life the true heroes are those that do the most difficult thing: doing what is right under any circumstance, for eg. a child with a serious disease that encourages his parents in the bad moments… This is really a true hero.

13 What does success mean to you?

Enjoying your daily work! In fact this would include two things: first of all having a job, what is not easy in today’s world and secondly, doing what you really enjoy for life. This is a true luck in life and what really can make you happy.

14 What would be your personal Project for this year?

Let’s see… I have already been in Seattle this year, attending to the MVP Summit, and also have organized the “Geek-a-paloozaaa” event in Andorra. So I would like to finish a series of technical posts about parallel computing that I have started some months ago, for what I don’t find the time to at this moment. In the personal side, I would like to spend more time with my loving ones.

See you :-D